CO

Co

co-

1.

variant of com- before a vowel, h, and gn:coadjutor; cohabit; cognate . The prefix co-, now productively forms new words from bases beginning with any sound (co-conspirator; co-manage; coseismic), sometimes with the derived sense “auxiliary, subsidiary” (coenzyme; copilot), and, in mathematics and astronomy, with the sense “complement” (codeclination).

co-

in Latin, the form of com- in compounds with stems beginning in vowels and h- and gn- (see com-). Taken in English from 17c. as a living prefix meaning "together, mutually, in common," and used promiscuously with native words and Latin-derived words not beginning with vowels, sometimes even with words already having it (e.g. co-conspiritor).